Call for Papers

Learning Analytics have been striving in the past years for all types of educational settings. However, analytics for workplace learning have been much less in the focus of the Learning Analytics community. While Learning Analytics in educational settings very often follow a particular pedagogical design, workplace learning is much more driven by demands of work tasks or intrinsic interests of the learner, by self-directed exploration and social exchange that is tightly connected to processes and the places of work. Hence, learning interactions at the workplace are to a large extent informal and not embedded into a pedagogical scenario. At the same time, workplace learners can benefit from being exposed to their own and other’s learning processes and outcomes as this potentially allows for better awareness and tracing of learning, sharing experiences, and scaling informal learning practices.

Recently, several different approaches to Learning Analytics in the workplace have been suggested. Some of these have been coming from the tradition of adaptive learning systems or self-directed learning environments for workplace learning or lifelong learning, some from learning in professional communities. Recently, the topic of performance analytics or analytics in smart industries has extended the focus to more traditional work settings. New research challenges also abound in workplace scenarios, such as the introduction of new technologies (augmented interfaces, large scale collaboration platforms), or the new challenges that derive from the need to make informal learning processes better traceable and recognizable.

We consider that workplace learning scenarios can benefit from existing research in education-based Learning Analytics approaches and technologies. We are convinced that the community would benefit from a closer exchange around the specificities of workplace learning, such as the unconstrained and less plannable learning processes, the challenge to integrate learning systems in work practices, or a methodological focus on design-oriented research approaches with smaller samples in real life settings. At the same time, we think that researchers in the educational domain can benefit from this workshop at LAK, as the clear boundaries between formal and informal learning are increasingly vanishing, and a focus on lifelong learning is increasingly being established. For this reason, the LA for Work workshop aims at providing a forum for researchers and practitioners who are making innovative use of analytics at the workplace, and for those who have an interest in exploring analytics in more informal learning settings.

Cecilie Hansen, Grete Netteland and Barbara Wasson. “Learning Analytics and Open Learning Modelling for Professional Competence Development of Firefighters and Future Healthcare Leaders” (paper, presentation)

The Learning Layers project is supported by the European Commission within the 7th Framework Programme under Grant Agreement #318209, under the DG Information society and Media (E3), unit of Cultural heritage and technology-enhanced learning. Email us at: layers@learning-layer.eu